Otto Hahn Award Ceremony and Otto Hahn Symposium

Awarding of the Otto Hahn Prize

The Otto Hahn Prize, awarded by the City of Frankfurt, the German Physical Society, and the German Chemical Society, was presented to Professor Peter Hommelhoff on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at St. Paul’s Church in Frankfurt. It was an award ceremony that was perfectly organized by the City of Frankfurt and impressive in every respect. The Paulskirche itself provided a fantastic venue; the speeches by DPG President Professor Klaus Richter, GDCh President Professor Stefanie Dehnen, and City Councilor Dr. Ina Hartwig were inspiring and entertaining, and the laudatory speech by Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schleich (Ulm) not only paid tribute to the award winner but also offered a fireworks display of physics anecdotes and comparisons, which, in addition to being entertaining, also impressed physicists with many new insights and perspectives. The event was beautifully accompanied by music from the Gimbach Duo. After the award ceremony, the signing of the Golden Book of the City of Frankfurt, and words of thanks from Peter Hommelhoff, the event ended with drinks in the foyer of St. Paul’s Church.

Awarding of the Otto Hahn Prize. From left: Laudator Professor Wolfgang Schleich, DPG President Professor Klaus Richter, DGCh President Stefanie Dehnen, Head of Cultural Affairs for the City of Frankfurt am Main Dr. Ina Hartwig, Prize winner Professor Hommelhoff.
Both photographs: © City of Frankfurt am Main, Maik Reuß

 

Agenda for the presentation of the Otto Hahn Prize to Prof. Dr. Peter Hommelhoff

Otto Hahn Symposium

The following day, a symposium with sixty participants took place in the impressive premises of the law firm HengelerMueller in Frankfurt—on the 25th floor with a great view over Frankfurt. The scientific program included presentations by outstanding scientists: Professors Mark Kasevich (Stanford), Ady Arie (Tel Aviv), Wolfgang Schleich (Ulm), Moti Segev (Technion), Martin Kozák (Prague), Ido Kaminer (Technion), Maria Chekhova (Erlangen), Christian Heide (Florida), Joachim von Zanthier (Erlangen), Michael Krüger (Technion), and Dr. Tobias Weitz, Dr. Jonas Heimerl, and Dr. Zhexin Zhao (all three from our department).

Scientific program of the Otto Hahn Symposium

Many thanks to all speakers and participants of the symposium for the stimulating presentations and excellent discussions!

The law firm HengelerMueller provided us with the rooms and support for organizing the symposium free of charge—many thanks to the entire firm and in particular to its co-managing partner Thomas Müller, Ms. Brisken, and Ms. Salzmann.

Here you will find the photos shown on this website in high resolution and many more—only for symposium participants and therefore password-protected.